CAPE GIRARDEAU NEWS GUARDIAN: QUESTIONS ARE RAISED CONCERNING CAPE GIRARDEAU'S LACK OF GROWTH

Last week in the News Guardian Advertorial I expressed concern over the lack of growth in Cape Girardeau's population. Several people, including city officials have contacted me since then to discuss the issue. One city councilmember voiced agreement with the observation that Cape's growth rate has slowed, and may have become a negative growth rate. Doug Richards said the city council needs to study the issue thoroughly and discover the cause of the problem.

Another councilmember, David Limbaugh, said the growth may have slowed, but he feels the city has already taken steps to reverse the trend and bring real growth back to the community.

One resident of the Jackson area, noting my comparison of Cape with Jonesboro, asked if I had considered the annexations which had occurred in the Arkansas town. My response was, if annexation is what is needed to solve the Cape's growth problem then let's do it. (Though annexation is not the easy thing to accomplish it once was.)

A Jackson resident who works in Cape predicted even more people would be moving to Jackson now that Highway 61 has been improved between the two cities. She said it takes her only seven minutes to drive from her home in Jackson to her office on Cape's west side.

Anyone who has watched the evening traffic on the North Kingshighway at the Veterans' Home knows that traffic headed out of Cape is very heavy.

In considering the problem of Cape Girardeau's population several questions have arisen. These are questions I do not have answers to. These are questions that city officials and others concerned about our community need to consider.

1) Why does Cape Girardeau have to have utility rates which are in the top third of the nation, while other communities, such as Jackson, have lower rates?

2) Why is the city council of Cape Girardeau considering the purchase of an antiquated water system from Union Electric when improving and maintaining that system will cost millions of dollars? (The purchase would leave UE with only the more profitable gas and electric operations in Cape.)

3) Are the high costs charged property owners neighborhoods such as Kage Hills for lateral sewer construction part of the population problem?

4) Is the increased cost of new street construction for adjacent property owners going to hurt the city's growth?

5) The city has increased costs for trash pick up and sewer service. What impact has this had on growth?

6) At the same time the city was increasing the costs of certain fees, voters were sending a different message to city hall, with the rejection of two park tax issues. Could the residents be telling city hall they don't want increased fees?

7) Builders say the cost of new construction is greater in Cape Girardeau, than elsewhere. Is this a reason why the community is not experiencing more growth?

8) Are there people in our community who do not desire any growth; people who are doing what they can to limit population?

If you continue to believe the city is growing despite the evidence to the contrary, allow me to point out that according to a chart published in the Southeast Missourian last week, the amount of revenue generated by general business license fees has twice declined during the last decade.

The Southeast Missourian says the revenue is based on a flat fee or gross receipts. It says 30 per cent of local businesses pay the flat fee. The Missourian article states the other 70 per cent pay 96 per cent of the taxes. One might conclude that the revenue from the tax should be somewhat indicative of the economy of Cape Girardeau.

A decrease in the amount of money brought in by the tax would seem to indicate that fewer businesses are around to pay it or that the amount of money earned by Cape businesses has dropped.

Between 1988-89 and 1989-90, the revenue brought in by the tax dropped more than $16 thousand. Given an inflation rate of five per cent, the amount should have increased more than $10 thousand. The general revenue tax income also dropped between 1985-86 and 1986-87. Assistant City Manager Al Stoverink said the declines also could be caused by differences in the reporting by the businesses involved. He does not believe year to year changes in the revenue brought in by the tax are significant.

The total increase in the tax revenue between 1980-81 and 1989-90 is $239,515. Of that, a 4.7 per cent annual inflation rate accounts for $128,799 - leaving $122,816 worth of real growth in the merchant's tax increase.

Speaking of the merchant's tax, I applaud the efforts at trying to bring fairness into it. I would suggest the same be done for other taxes which may be unfair, such as the restaurant and motel tax. I don't understand why the city has allowed the restaurant tax issue to remain unresolved for so long a time. Resolution of this problem should be given as high a priority as the merchants tax.

IP0,0City Official Says Recycling

Program May Require Trash

Hauling Fee Hike

IP1,0Cape Girardeau Public Works Director Doug Leslie, speaking recently on the Don Pritchard Show, said the city council may have to raise residential trash hauling rates in order to pay for a state-mandated recycling program.

Leslie said new legislation requires cities to cut the amount of trash going to landfills by 40 per cent by the year 1998. Intermediate goals have been established for each year until then. Leslie said separating the recyclable trash from other waste requires many workers. With the value of recyclables questionable (for example newsprint, which once brought in money to organizations such as V.I.P. Industries, is now hauled off for a fee.), Leslie stated that an increase in the trash hauling fee may be needed to avoid red ink in the sanitation division. Leslie said the city trash hauling service must pay for itself and not take any money from the city's other funds.

The Cape Girardeau City Council is scheduled to consider the future of residential trash hauling later this month or next. The meetings will be open to the public.

THE ABOVE ADVERTORIAL WAS PAID FOR BY JIM DRURY, EARL NORMAN AND EARNIE BEUSSINK